Mortar
"Attacks large areas. It's ineffective in close combat. Upgrade Mortar to increase firepower." ---- *'Summary' **Mortars are the player's heavy defenses. Whenever an enemy comes into range, it blasts out an explosive shell. **Mortars have high damage per attack and deal splash damage. Their splash damage, combined with their long range, make them deadly weapons against large numbers of weaker enemies such as slashers, riflemen or spies. Its major disadvantages are its inability to attack enemies at close range and its low rate of fire. (Tile range of "blind spot" is four tiles.) **Due to the fact that the Mortar's shell takes a long time to reach its target (over 1 second), fast troops like spies can easily dodge its attack if they are moving when the Mortar fires. **Mortars cannot target air troops. ---- *'Defensive Strategy' **Mortars should usually be placed towards the center of your base, preferably behind at least one set of walls. Its long range allows the Mortar to attack behind other structures. Since the Mortar deals heavy splash damage, it can quite rapidly eliminate attacking troops; multiple Mortars ensure more destruction and damage. Take care when upgrading, as many players use this as a chance to attack. For this reason it is often a good idea to only upgrade one Mortar at a time. **Putting a Mortar and Flame Tower together makes a smart pair, because the Mortar covers a large area while the Flame Tower helps protect the Mortar from mass air troops and covers the Mortar's blind spot. **It is a good idea to place Mortars near each other, without them being in the same wall cell if possible. When more than one Mortars' range overlaps, it creates a kill-zone where almost no ground troops can survive. *'Offensive Strategy' **The Mortar's blind spot, low rate of fire, and inability to target air troops makes them vulnerable to a wide variety of different attacks. Fast melee troops such as slashers or spies (after all resource structures are destroyed) can rush to the Mortar and quickly enter its blind spot. Riflemen can also be effective if they are positioned in a circle around the Mortar or if protected by a meatshield. **The Mortar's low dps makes it difficult to deal with Gunners and the mighty Iron Storm. Use these units to distract Mortars from hitting the higher damage dealing back-line of your army. **The Mortar's relatively low hit points makes it very vulnerable to Gunners. Finally, their inability to target air troops makes Mortars easy pickings for Hornets and Black Hawks if they are not covered by air defenses. **When deploying troops, try to avoid deploying ground troops in clumps. The Mortar does high splash damage. ---- *'Icon Description' ** Pressing this icon displays information about the Mortar such as Level, Damage Per Second, Hitpoints, Range, Damage Type, Targets and Favorite Target. ** Pressing this icon upgrades the Mortar to the next level if you have enough resources and a free worker. When the Mortar is at maximum level this icon is not shown. ** Pressing this icon finishes an upgrade currently in progress by paying the displayed number of diamonds. This icon is only displayed while an upgrade is in progress. ** Pressing this icon cancels the upgrade currently in progress. This icon is only displayed while an upgrade is in progress. ---- *'Numbers'